Entries open for Newdy’s State Ewe Hogget Competition

WA sheep producers are being encouraged to bring their best to this year’s Newdegate Machinery Field Days, with a chance to take home $1500.

Each year the event hosts the State Ewe Hogget Competition, in which pens of 10 hoggets are judged on their wool type, conformation and potential profitability.

Competition co-ordinator and Newdegate local Bryce Sinclair said any farmer with a pure Merino flock could enter and, aside from a big first-place prize, there was a lot to gain from participating.

“It’s a really good way for farmers to get an idea of how well their sheep are going or where other people are getting their genetics from,” he said.

“It’s quite useful whether you want to improve your flock or compare it to everyone else’s.”

Mr Sinclair, who runs a 13,500ha mixed-farming enterprise, has helped organise the competition for seven years.

“It’s great because you get to meet a fair few different people interested in the sheep industry,” he said.

But stewarding the event has not stopped the Newdegate farmer from participating himself, with about 15 competitions under his belt.

“I have never won, so I promise it’s not rigged — I can’t make myself win,” he said.

Mr Sinclair said he had entered in recent years to keep the numbers up.

“We do often struggle to get enough entries but I speak to a lot of the local stock agents around the place, so if they know anyone with a good line of ewes, they can send them our way,” he said.

“The girls in the field days office have also been pretty good with promoting (the competition), so hopefully we’ll get a couple more numbers.”

He said the season had been tight in terms of sheep feed, but recent rain was welcome.

“The recent rain is slowly turning our luck around and probably in the last week or so the seed situation has started to improve,” he said. “We’re feeding out half as much as what we were three weeks ago.”

Judging of the State Ewe Hogget Competition starts at 9.30am on September 4. To enter, phone Bryce Sinclair on 0429 004 185.